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Monday, October 12, 2026

A NICE SUNDAY AT 15 CRAIGSIDE

Nothing of any great import occurring in the world today, and not much, actually, can today be anticipated for the rest of the week. However, I noticed that in my posting yesterday of my life highlights, I did not include my two homes, where I have lived for 44 years.  These are two important ones.


They are adjacent apartments on the corner of Nuuanu Avenue/Judd Street/ 15 Craigside Place.  We are surrounded by graveyards, but my view was of Honolulu and the Pacific Ocean.  I could not see any tombstones from my apartments.  The brown 27-story building is 2101 Craigside, while the green one of 13 floors is 15 Craigside.

In 1982 I was working in the U.S. Senate for Spark Matsunaga.
  • I had been living in a nice apartment in Falls Church, Virginia.  But getting to work on the bus/metro system was difficult.
  • However, a new Metro line was building with the ending Huntington Station of this Yellow Line adjacent to Montebello, a new condo that was building.  Appropriately enough, translates to beautiful mountain in Italian.
    • The structure was on a the only hill in this part of Virginia close to Alexandria.
    • The market was up in this period, so all you could do was put your name as an interested buyer and wait for the lottery.  
    • We lucked out and got a penthouse.  From our apartment, we could see the Potomac River, and a hint of the Washington Monument.  The view would have been forever, for nothing would ever be built to obscure our line of sight.
  • Unfortunately, I was on leave from the University of Hawaii, and they had already given me a three-year leave of absence.  I had to return at the end of this period, or lose tenure and a full professorship.
  • So the month before we were supposed to move into Montebello, we returned to Honolulu.
  • So in 1982 we owned two condos in the DC area, and a penthouse in Honolulu, which was occupied on a one year lease.  
  • So we went to First Hawaiian Bank and explained to them that we were planning to sell those three condos, and we needed a loan to purchase a fourth place.  Coming from being a staff of Senator Spark Matsunaga, no problem, so we moved into 2101 Craigside, a two-story penthouse with a glorious view of downtown Honolulu.  The sunsets and rainbows were incredible.  Our neighbors Debby and Dan Bent.  He was the Hawaii Federal Prosecutor.
  • Our other neighbors were also special people:  Donald Johanos, who was the Honolulu Symphony conductor, Aaron Placourakis, who owned a bunch of restaurants,(married Tina Machado, Miss Hawaii USA--their first son was born on my birthday, so I became kind of a godfather to him), and I've forgotten their names, but an art gallery owner (who displayed some amazing, and expensive, art on our floor--you needed a special key to enter here), one of the partners in the company that built this building, and an old-time Hawaiian family which owned a hotel in Waikiki.
  • The night view was particularly spectacular, and during the 32 years I lived there, the color dramatically changed. From a earlier posting:
At 2101 Craigside, we had a view of Honolulu City Lights for nearly three decades.  The color was bluish in the early days, but shifted to orange when the sodium vapor bulbs replaced the mercury vapor lamps.  The scene was ethereally relaxing.
Honolulu City Lights was written by Keola Beamer around 1970, and opened their album of the same name with brother Kapono.  This is my anthem of living nearly four decades at two Craigside sites.
  • My wife passed away in 2009.
    • The following year, as I went to throw my trash away, I noticed that a building was coming up next door.  
    • In 2011, a senior's community, 15 Craigside opened for occupancy.
    • I was then 71 years old and not interested in moving.
    • In December of 2013, it was a Saturday morning, and on a lark, decided to take a look at 15 Craigside.
      • The sales person happened to be there, so she showed me around
      • She said that a new apartment just opened up, which was long reserved by someone who finally decided not to move in.  Was thus never occupied.
      • Was on the top floor, had a view of the Pacific Ocean, and the two taller buildings were faced in a manner that not not look my way.   That red marker is where I live.   If I were the first to sign up for a room in 15 Craigside, this is the apartment I would have picked.  So I gave her a check for $20,000 and finally moved in in May of 2014.  So I've now been here for 12 years.
  • One thing that occurred to me when I moved into 15 Craigside was that we were surrounded by graveyards and churches.  

While I have tried to compare 15 Craigside with the Seabourn Odyssey, that is not the point.  The beauty of having both experiences is that they complement each other.  15 Craigside is a secure and comfortable environment with decent cuisine and a lot of activities.  I do very little, but enjoy the freedom to do so.  A cruise opens up the world to opportunities not available in Nuuanu and Hawaii.  Now on to the rest of my life.

    • There were others, but the incredible conclusion after all those meals of caviar, steaks, truffles, foie gras and a lot more, if I had to pick the one place I would forever want to live because of the cuisine, it would be 15 Craigside.  Why?  Because you quickly get sick and tired of that extravagance.  15 Craigside serves mostly local food, meals you with which you grew up.
So with all the above, here is a typical day at 15 Craigside, my Sunday yesterday.  
We have a new resident on our 12th floor, Cookie, seen here with Irene, Kathy and John.
The weather looked so great. Photo of the ocean side and video from our roof.

I then went see what we had for lunch.
Last night we had Doug Oshiro, the best karaoke jockey in Hawaii.
A Thousand Stars.
My Way.
Kawano Nagare No You Ni.
Thus ended a nice Sunday at 15 Craigside.
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Sunday, October 11, 2026

MY LIFE: Part Alpha Highlights

In a series that began on 31May2026 as MY LIFE:  Part 1, I've been serializing my life from youth to retirement. 


Fifteen episodes later, I was into some of those incredible journeys I had in my retirement.  These will continue for a few more chapters, but today, I will crystalize the essence of my life into a few highlights.  So I titled it Part Alfa.


On 30September2026, my post was titled:   

MAGIC CAN HAPPEN IF YOU TRY

This article focused on a magical period from high school into Stanford.  So if you want to read those details, click on the above.  I begin with the most important day of my life.  When I was born.  To quote from my 19September2017 posting, THE MOST ENJOYABLE DAY OF MY LIFE:


The most important day of my life was when I was born.  The odds of me being here were very low.  How low?  There are various ways one can determine the odds of my creation.  Let me simplify it with a rough fact that the average male will produce around 500 billion sperms in a lifetime.  Every female is born with around 2 million eggs.  Each combination of an egg and sperm produces a totally different human being.  Thus, there was one chance in a quintillion of me being born, which is one in 10 to the 18th power.  This is a best case scenario, for what were the odds of my father and mother even hooking up.  Each of you is here with this same probability.  That photo to the left came from FX Studios.  Watch the video, with music, no less.  But this was not my most enjoyable day because I was too young to appreciate this miracle.

Google AI provides various mathematical odds of being born, and they range from 1 in 400 trillion, to 1 in 400 quadrillion, to 1 in 10 to the 268,500 power.  In short, your being born is pretty much a miracle, and so very much should be a primary highlight of your life.  Then add that I was born in Hawaii, which became a state of the USA, for birth in Africa would not have been ideal.

That could have been IMPORTANT, not ENJOYABLE, for I can't remember anything that happened when I was born.  But life's highlights include both.  Chronologically, after birth:

  • Four years at Stanford University, gave me the confidence that influenced the rest of my life.  Graduated in June of 1962.
  • Eight years in the Hawaii sugar industry were awful, but I did meet my wife, and we were married in December of 1962.  With us is plantation manger Bill Baldwin, who shared an office with me when we both later worked in the U.S. Senate.
  • The company I worked for was C. Brewer, the oldest in Hawaii.  They sent me to Louisiana State University because it had the only sugar program in the world, even paying my salary the first year I was there.  I also had a full fellowship, and my wife worked as a Registered Nurse, so we did well financially too.  Living in Louisiana was wonderful.  We did not experience any racial discrimination.
  • Graduated in 1972 with a PhD in biochemical engineering, and was hired at the University of Hawaii.  
    • I worked for 27 years and retired in 1999.
    • I remained on campus doing not much, but retained an office with free parking (because I had emeritus status), and 27 years later, still have an office on the Manoa Campus.  I'll soon need to meet with the director and return this room because universities are always short of space.
  • I have dozens of highlights while in academia, for we are allowed a lot of freedom.
    • Made Full Professor and Director of the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute, which through competition, became the Department of Energy's Hydrogen Research Center (with the Florida Solar Energy Center), Department of Interior's Marine Minerals Center (with the University of Mississippi) and National Science Foundation's Marine BioProducts Engineering Center (with Cal Berkeley).
    • Worked one summer at the NASA Ames Research Center near Stanford on the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.  Free to golf at leisure,  lived on campus and took a wine tasting course.
    • Two summers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on Laser Fusion, while living in an apartment adjacent to the wine fields of Wente Brothers.
    • Worked three years for Senator Spark Spark Matsunaga in DC, where I drafted original legislation for Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion and Hydrogen.  Living in the eastern part of the USA opened up a whole lot of territory for exploration and enjoyment.
    • Helped found the Pacific International Center for High Technology Research, which led the national program in converting biomass into biofuels, and was the first organization to build an open-cycle ocean thermal energy conversion, at the Hawaii Ocean Science and Technology site on the Big Island of Hawaii.  Both projects were valued at $25 million, and the OTEC effort was partly financed by the Japanese government.  Here is one story that led to the Blue Revolution.  Click on the following for more information.

      • Had a lunch at Quadri with truffles in each dish, even dessert.
      • Somehow got a seat for a tribute to Antonio Vivaldi's Four Seasons by the San Marcos Chamber Orchestra, in the theater where Vivaldi wrote part of this piece.
    • Spent two six-month sabbaticals in Tokyo, Japan.
  • Written several books.

  • One day, golfed at St. Andrews, then the next at Carnoustie.  
  • My wife, Pearl, passed away 17 years ago.
    • Wrote an article for The Huffington Post, Gratitude...Not Grief, that day.
    • In a way, she gave me a final phase of my life to enjoy.
    • More recently, now have a travel partner, our first trip being to France seven years ago.  If you're interested in the details, in reverse chronological order.

To close, last night, the Saturday Night Live version of Defense Secretary Hegseth welcoming the USS Abraham Lincoln home to San Diego. followed by Secretary of Health RFK Jr.

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Saturday, October 10, 2026

ALL ABOUT HURRICANES TODAY

There are four ocean storms alive and well today.

  • Hurricane Isaias made landfall over Destin, Florida as a Category 2, zoomed close-by Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama later this morning, will not influence the football game with Georgia to be held earlier this evening, and essentially dissipated soon thereafter.
    • The eye of Isaias passed over Destin, Florida, 23 miles of Navarre Beach as was first predicted.
    •  Killed four and took out power for hundreds of thousands.  
    • Spinoff floods will affect people from Georgia, through North Carolina and into the Eastern seaboard.

  • In the East Pacific Ocean, Hurricane Simon is now a Category 4 at 150 MPH, and will tomorrow breeze pass Puerto Vallarta.  Fortunately, there is a peninsula that will protect the city, dampening the hurricane down to a Category 1.
  • There are two ocean storms in the East Pacific Ocean in the vicinity of Japan.
    • Koguma became a typhoon two days ago, strengthened to 115 MPH yesterday, and is now at 125 MPH.  However, there should a slight weakening tomorrow, and more importantly, gently make a turn to the right and north.  This change in path will continue over the next two days, so Typhoon Koguma will totally miss Japan.

    • Then there is Hurricane Nolo.  
      • Dissipated into a remnant on September 16.

The sneaky one is Tropical Depression 15-E.

  • Detected 10 days ago as a non-threatening anomaly predicted to move west, but with a path far south of the Big Island of Hawaii  
  • But had staying power, for it maintained a strength of 35MPH for a week.
  • As would be expected, weakened to 30 MPH on September 16, still moving west, but on its way to disappearing.
  • However, today strengthened back to 35 MPH.
  • During the past few days, meteorologists seemed confused on strength and path.  Usually, models can be predicted far ahead of time and are usually right.  Not for 15-E.
  • They are now telling us that this depression will become a tropical storm tomorrow, then make a right turn towards Hawaii, strengthening into Hurricane Nolo by the end of the day.

      • Became a hurricane on September 25, and further strengthened to 105 MPH that day, headed for the Big Island of Hawaii.
      • However, I reported that Nolo would further strengthen to a Category 3 on September 26, but "probably" make a sudden left turn west, and ease past the Big Island on September 27
      • On September 30, Nolo lost hurricane strength, and on October 1 was down to 45 MPH.
      • Up to hurricane strength at 75 MPH on October 2.
      • October 3 up to 115 MPH.
      • 120 MPH on October 4 and 5.
      • Down to 90 MPH on October 6
      • Down to 70 MPH on October 7
      • 60 MPH on October 8 and 9.
      • Today, further weakening to 40 MPH.  But now heading straight to Tokyo.
      • How much longer will Nolo remain a threat?  In three days, it will be a month old.
      • However, in 2023, Cyclone Freddy reached Category 5 strength, and remained at least a tropical storm for 36 days in the Indian Ocean.

I asked Google AI, is October 10 a special day on Planet Earth?  I won't even bother to go into any detail on any of them.


October 10 features several prominent international health and global awareness days, national holidays around the world, and fun U.S. national days. [1, 2, 3]
International & Global Observances
  • World Mental Health Day: A global initiative supported by the World Health Organization to raise awareness and mobilize efforts in support of mental health.
  • World Homeless Day: Focuses attention on the needs of people experiencing homelessness locally and globally.
  • World Day Against the Death Penalty: Advocates for the abolition of capital punishment worldwide.
  • World Porridge Day: Raises awareness and funds for school feeding programs.
  • World Hospice and Palliative Care Day: Celebrates and supports hospice and palliative care services.
  • International African Penguin Awareness Day: Promotes the conservation of endangered African penguins.
  • International Stage Management Day: Honors stage managers in theater and live performances. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
National Days & Public Holidays Around the World
  • Double Tenth Day (National Day of Taiwan / Republic of China): Celebrates the 1911 Wuchang Uprising, which occurred on 10October1911.  Note that 10 October is 10/10.
  • Fiji Day: Marks the anniversary of Fiji's independence in 1970.
  • Cuba Independence Day / Carlos Manuel de Céspedes Day: Commemorates the start of Cuba's fight for independence in 1868.
  • Curaçao Day: Commemorates the status change of Curaçao within the Dutch Kingdom.
  • Huduma Day (Kenya): A public holiday in Kenya dedicated to service and community work. [1, 2, 3]
U.S. National & Fun Days
  • National Angel Food Cake Day: Celebrates the light and airy dessert.
  • National Handbag Day: Recognizes handbags and purse fashion.
  • National Cake Decorating Day: Highlights baking and icing artistry.
  • National Metric Day: Promotes the history and use of the metric system (10/10).
  • National Walk to a Park Day: Encourages people to visit local green spaces and parks.
  • National Chess Day (Second Saturday in October): Celebrates the strategic board game.
  • I Love Yarn Day (Second Saturday in October): Celebrates knitting, crocheting, and fiber arts.
  • National Motorcycle Ride Day (Second Saturday in October): Unites motorcycle riders for a day on the road.
  • National Costume Swap Day (Second Saturday in October): Promotes trading and reusing Halloween costumes.
  • National Hug a Drummer Day: Appreciates percussionists. [1, 2]

Well, I'll do one:  Angel Food Cake Day.

  • This is a light sponge cake.
  • Bake and place upside down to cool.
  • Add whatever you want.
  • Originated in the 1600s in Europe.
  • Said to be created in the U.S. by the Pennsylvania Dutch, spurred by an 1839 publication of Lettice Bryan's The Kentucky Housewife, and gained popularity in the 1870s.

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